1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mailboxes, more particularly to a mailbox having a sliding bottom tray for depositing and retrieving mail.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditional mailboxes provide a housing and a stationary floor for depositing mail. Individuals must reach into the mailbox to retrieve the mail. Some individuals fear sticking their hand into the mailbox out of fear of what may lie inside and do not want to blindly reach into the mailbox to retrieve mail. In any case, mail sometimes is pushed into the rear of the mailbox and may be unintentionally left behind. Another problem with traditional mailboxes resides in the fact that users must get out of their vehicle and walk up to the mailbox to retrieve their mail.
Some mailboxes have been developed having a sliding tray to alleviate some of the aforementioned problems. These mailboxes, however, still leave room for improvement. For example, some sliding mailbox trays only expose a portion of the tray, leaving the rear portion of the mailbox hidden. Other sliding tray mailboxes are rigidly attached to the door, so that when the door is opened the tray automatically slides out, leaving the user without the option of merely opening the door to peer into the mailbox, since it is impossible to open the door without sliding out the tray. Still others use removable trays that do not have guides to direct the tray out of the mailbox, and which often have stops to prevent the tray from falling out of the mailbox. Therefore, a mailbox is desired that has a tray guided by tracks to extend out past the housing of the mailbox, thereby allowing the user see the entire tray and its contents.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,220,251, issued to Martin on Mar. 27, 1917, discloses a letter holder. The holder is attached to the mailbox by a track and has a spring clip on one end to hold a single letter. U.S. Pat. No. 838,194, issued to Larsh on Dec. 11, 1906, discloses a mailbox having a sliding drawer that is attached to the door of the mailbox by bars. When the door opens the drawer is drawn forward and partially out of the mailbox. The '194 invention does not show the entire drawer fully extended outside the mailbox.
U.S. Pat. No. 908,543, issued to Brown on Jan. 5, 1909, discloses a mailbox having a sliding tray. The tray is attached to the door and moves with the door. Thus, when the door opens, the tray simultaneously swings out and tilts downward with the door. The tray utilizes stops to prevent the tray from extending completely outside the mailbox.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,471,899, issued to Koenig on Oct. 23, 1923, discloses a mailbox having a sliding drawer placed in the bottom of the mailbox. The drawer is connected to the inner sides of the mailbox and is drawn out when the mailbox door is swung open. Thus the '899 mailbox only allows the drawer to partially extend out of the mailbox housing. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0109005, published on Aug. 15, 2002, discloses a tray for receiving and containing mail that may be used within a standard United States Post Office mailbox.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,868,444, issued to Whittier on Jan. 13, 1959, discloses a mailbox accessory which is a unitary receptacle that can be used in standard existing mailboxes without requiring fasteners or having to alter existing mailboxes. The receptacle has stop means to prevent it from fully extending out of the mailbox. U.S. Pat. No. 4,362,267, issued to Donaldson on Dec. 7, 1982, discloses a mailbox tray that can be partially pulled out to access its contents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,143, issued on Jul. 15, 1986, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,192, issued on Dec. 22, 1987, both to Harlow, Jr. et al., disclose a slidable tray insert for mailboxes. The tray has finger elements at the rear end of the tray to abut the edges of the opening of the mailbox and prevent the tray from falling out of the box. The '143 patent does not have tracks guiding the tray out of the box, nor does the tray completely extend outside the mailbox.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,385, issued to Phipps et al. on Jun. 28, 1988, discloses an extendable mailbox tray. The tray is made from folded sheet material that, when assembled, can slidingly cooperate with any mailbox. The '385 patent does not have tracks guiding the tray out of the box.
Mailboxes having a sliding mail tray or an insert are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,827, issued to Economou on Jan. 30, 1990; U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,366, issued to van Druff, Jr. et al. on Apr. 23, 1991; U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,900, issued to Kokoruda et al. on Oct. 29, 1991; U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,749, issued to Harper on Jun. 16, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 6,698,651, issued to Green on Mar. 2, 2004 (mailbox tray that extends partially outside the mailbox); U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,555, issued to Mayer on Dec. 21, 1993; European Patent Number 583,182, published on Feb. 16, 1994; and French Patent Number 2,824,507, published on Nov. 15, 2002 (two adjacent trays).
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a mailbox with a sliding tray solving the aforementioned problems is desired.